After prime minister David Cameron swept to power, he promptly
cut spending, and, since then, the UK's economy--and tax
revenues--have taken a dive.

Meanwhile, here in the US, where we've ignored the deficit and
passed a stimulus package (which Krugman thinks was way too
small), growth is chugging along.

What the austerians miss, Krugman argues, is that when you cut
spending, you also reduce future tax revenue, which defeats the
purpose of trying to "close the deficit" in the first place.

Krugman also observes that the bullish austerity argument--that
"business confidence" will spike as soon as everyone sees that
the government is finally getting its fiscal house in order--is a
crock: Despite UK prime minister David Cameron's slashing and
burning, no one's confident, and the government just had to
revise its growth expectations downward.

Krugman also takes a swing at Washington, where lawmakers are
quibbling about a few tens of billions of dollars of spending
cuts and even the party that's supposedly "serious" about cutting
our deficit refuses to tackle the real problem--Medicare and
Medicaid--and thinks that no one's taxes should ever be raised.